REJECTED BY THE ALPHA CHOSEN BY THE MOON

The night of the Moonfire Festival arrived cloaked in enchantment. Bonfires crackled in rhythmic celebration, casting golden sparks into the air as the music of drums and flutes wove through the forest clearing. Laughter echoed between trees, lanterns floated overhead like captured stars, and yet, Aria stood at the edge of it all-half-shadowed and silent.

Her eyes lingered on the dancers in the center, the blur of twirling dresses and flashing teeth. She felt the pulse of the pack's joy vibrating through the earth but didn't dare step into it. Her fingers curled into the folds of her simple black dress, the same one she always wore on the rare nights she joined the celebrations.

This was the last place she wanted to be. But tradition was tradition, and no unmated wolves could skip the Moonfire Festival.

She turned to leave, the urge to vanish back into the shadows overwhelming-

And then she felt it.

The world shifted.

A hum beneath her skin, like the awakening of a long-dormant storm. Her breath caught. The bond-the unmistakable, soul-binding pull of a mate. Her heart stuttered violently, and her wolf surged forward, desperate, aching, certain.

She pivoted slowly.

And saw him.

Kael.

He stood across the fire, half-lit in gold and shadow. Tall, broad-shouldered, wrapped in a dark coat that fit his cold reputation. His silver eyes found hers across the distance, and in that moment, everything else faded. The music, the fire, the voices-gone. There was only him.

And the bond.

It slammed into her with staggering force, her knees trembling, her heartbeat wild. Her wolf howled within, recognizing what the human side of her barely dared to hope.

Mate.

Aria took a step forward. Then another.

Kael didn't move.

Something shifted in his gaze-not surprise, not joy. Something sharper. Harder.

No.

Aria stopped in her tracks as realization sank in like ice through her chest. He knew. He felt it too.

And yet...

He turned away.

Every part of her trembled, but she followed him. Her feet moved on instinct, weaving between dancing couples, across grass and stone until she reached the quiet path behind the gathering. He stood there, waiting, arms crossed.

His voice was low and even. "Don't follow me."

Her voice cracked. "Kael. You felt it."

He didn't look at her. "It doesn't change anything."

The words were knives.

"You're rejecting me?"

Kael exhaled, the sound tight, strained. "I never asked for this."

Aria swallowed hard, blinking away the sting behind her eyes. "Neither did I. But it's the bond. It's sacred."

He turned to her then, finally, and she saw it-the flicker. A flash of pain in his silver gaze, quickly buried. His jaw clenched. "Sacred doesn't mean right. I don't want a mate. Not now. Not ever."

Aria's breath caught. In that fleeting moment, the mask faltered-just enough. There was hesitation there. A shadow of grief, maybe even longing, but it passed as quickly as it appeared.

"Kael..."

"Find someone who wants the fantasy," he said, voice brittle despite the ice. "That's not me."

And with that, he walked away, leaving her in the darkness.

Aria stood there, heart hollowing, the bond still pulsing inside her like a wound that refused to close. Her chest ached with a thousand unsaid things. She wanted to scream. She wanted to collapse.

Instead, she turned and walked back into the festival.

Selene, her friend since childhood, found her quickly. Her wide eyes scanned Aria's face. "You okay?"

Aria opened her mouth to answer but couldn't speak.

Selene's expression darkened. "It's him, isn't it? Who is it?"

Aria looked toward the trees where he'd disappeared. "Kael."

Selene's gasp was audible. "The Alpha's son?"

She nodded, her throat tight.

Selene's expression twisted into anger. "And what did he do?"

"Rejected me."

Selene's eyes glistened with fury. "I'm going to claw his smug face off."

"No," Aria whispered. "Don't. Please."

Selene hesitated, then hugged her tightly. "You don't deserve this. You're stronger than he'll ever be."

Was she?

Aria wasn't sure. Not yet.

But she would be.

She had to be.

The pain burned through her veins, deeper than any wound she'd ever known. It wasn't just heartbreak-it was the shredding of something ancient, spiritual. The tearing of a bond the Moon Goddess herself had forged.

Still, Aria squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. She wouldn't crumble in front of them. Not tonight.

As the music played and the fires danced, she took one last look at the place where Kael had vanished.

He might have rejected the bond.

But fate wasn't finished with them yet.

And neither was she.

Later That Night

Back in her small cabin near the edge of the woods, Aria sat at her desk, wiping away the last remnants of her tears. Moonlight filtered through the window, and her wolf paced restlessly beneath her skin.

She reached for her journal-the one she only wrote in when the pain became too much.

She scribbled one line:

He rejected me, but I will not break.

Then below it:

He doesn't know what I've survived.

Her thoughts drifted briefly to the past. The years of being overlooked in her own pack, dismissed because she was an orphan, too quiet, too strange. They never saw the strength in her. The girl who trained in secret before dawn. Who healed herself when no one else bothered. Who learned to endure when even the elders said she wouldn't amount to anything.

Kael's rejection cut deep-but it would not define her.

Aria looked out the window once more, toward the dark trees and the moon hanging heavy above them.

Something inside her stirred.

This wasn't the end.

It was the beginning.